


Voracious

by TheOnlyWife



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Irondad, Other, Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24697816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyWife/pseuds/TheOnlyWife
Summary: V's agreement of holding back munching on criminals came with a price. A date in a fancy restaurant was it. Unfortunately, date night gets interrupted by some pesky Avengers who don't know how to mind their own business.
Relationships: Eddie Brock & Peter Parker & Venom Symbiote, Eddie Brock/Venom Symbiote, Peter Parker & Shuri, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Venom Symbiote
Comments: 57
Kudos: 810





	1. Avocation

“Lobster or steak?” Eddie half-whispered.

**Lobster.**

Eddie knew that either would cut his rent money in half, but their agreement of holding back munching on criminals came with a price. A date night in a fancy restaurant like the one they were in was V’s price.

“You got it. But no heads tonight.”

V manifested a small head on his right shoulder, complete with equally small, yet sharp, teeth. 

**We want chocolate Eddie**

“As much as you want, love” He felt Venom get excited over the prospect of that much chocolate. “...Or as much as I can afford, at least.”

Eddie held up the menu higher than anyone should have it, which led to him secretly leaning in and kissing Venom on his forehead.

**..Gay**

Eddie chuckled quietly and set his menu back down. “We’ve been dating for quite a while now, V, we had to kiss at some point.”

The waiter came by to ask for their order not more than a minute later. She pretended to not be disturbed by the amount of food they ordered. Or it could have been the weird combinations of meat and seafood they ordered. Not their problem that the restaurant had so much customizability. Nevertheless she returned not too long later with the first round of food, the very expensive lobster, which V scarfed down in a single bite the second she couldn’t see them. 

When she came by one of her other tables to refill their drinks she looked over at them with mild surprise. People don’t usually finish entire lobsters in 30 seconds. Persevering through the nonsensical quickness with which they ate, however, she brought the next lobster out, along with the first round of chocolate ice cream.

After a few rounds of back and forth between them, mostly consisting of chocolaty desserts, they had finished. They, mostly Eddie if they were being honest, agreed to tip well. He left cash to pay for the meal and an extra $50 for her and left without another word.

They ended up wandering on their walk home. A bit of a trek, but stamina wasn’t an issue. It was a nice day anyway. It was only made better by a little flirting on Eddie’s part. V always liked being complimented. Some people gave them weird looks but in a busy city like San Francisco, no one paid them any mind.

**Eddie**

“What’s up?” He expected another sarcastic remark to his taunting/flirting, but was more than unhappy when he heard the next words.

**Someone’s following us**

Eddie couldn’t see behind him, but Venom could. They could see everything now that they had more than one pair of eyes. Being followed never meant something good. He tucked his head down and whispered back, “Who? Anyone we know?”

**Tin Man in Red**

He suddenly realized what he meant. _Iron Man_. Tony Stark, actually, going by the fact that no one was panicking. Or worse, asking for autographs. 

He took a sharp turn down the next street he came across, then crossed the sidewalk a couple of times. Out of the corner of his eye he saw what V had seen: A tall man in red aviators, a dark blue polo, and a black cardigan. Could have fooled anyone into thinking he was just another city dweller, but they weren’t fooled.

Definitely following them, too.

The situation couldn’t get much worse. An arrogant, xenophobic, unchecked billionaire was trailing them and they couldn’t do anything about it with all these people around. Nor was it a good idea to lead him into an alley to confront him. That just was asking for trouble. Or a kidnapping.

Eddie heard the whispers on the building above him before Venom warned him. 

**More above**

“Yeah I hear them. Probably trying to corner us.” He was barely above a whisper when he spoke, but Venom could always hear him anyway.

**What now?**

“Go underground. Take the subway and put some distance. That means I can’t talk for a bit, but it’s safer.”

V didn’t bother responding.

Instead he gave Eddie a gentle nudge in the direction of the nearest subway station. He thanked V silently and tried his best to make his trek across yet another street seem casual. The rest of the trip through the station and onto the train was relatively normal, no trouble as far as they could see. He had hoped that he’d lost Tony and whoever else had been following them since he didn’t see anyone suspicious come onto the train after him.

He took a seat on the somewhat empty train, avoiding the sickly looking old lady in a mask and the mother of two young kids, both not happy about sitting still for long, going by the loud noises they were making. She was trying her best to calm them, but seven year old's weren’t the most cooperative.

He wanted nothing more than to go crash after a heavy meal like that. Having an overactive metabolism meant nothing when he still had a regular human stomach. He felt himself close his eyes and relax into the dirty seat before he could stop himself.

**Eyes up. Stay sharp.**

His eyes snapped open, suddenly wide awake. He whispered a quick “Thanks” which earned him a sidelong glance from the man a few seats on his right. Didn’t matter, his stop was coming up.

Eddie had hopes that he’d lost the people trailing him, but as he was coming up to his apartment door he noticed someone jumping across the roof next door. He couldn’t tell for sure, but it seemed like they planned on either going in through the back door for a surprise attack or cutting him off if he made a run for it.

_Never is that easy, huh?_

**We can take them**

The climb up the stairs was silent. Incredibly so, in fact. Eddie knew there were little kids in this apartment so either Tony and whatever gang of children and misfits he brought with him were good with toddlers or they had evacuated ahead of time.

He supposed that if he were confronting a dangerous man and his parasite then he would have done the same.

**Not a parasite.**

_I know. Just keep an eye out, love. We’re in enemy territory now._

He wrestled his key out from his pocket once he got to his door and placed it in, only to find that his door was already unlocked. Rookie mistake. Rule #1 he learned from being an investigative journalist: If you’re going to break into someplace you’re not supposed to be, leave everything as you found it.

Nevertheless he shut the door behind him, pretending he had seen nothing. But he didn’t make a move to get away from the door. Instead he only had to wait a minute before he could hear footsteps behind it, most notably Tony’s, who was wearing dress shoes. There were others, but they were keeping distance.

**Two more behind that wall**

Eddie nodded in acknowledgement, took a deep, calming breath, and opened the door halfway. Tony had his fist up, ready to knock, and V got a kick out of the look he was giving Eddie. Eddie hushed him internally, but also found it kind of funny.

Eddie spoke before Stark did, not wanting to give him the first move. “What do you want, Stark?” He said. 

“To talk, Mr. Brock” Tony said, flashing his infamous 'playboy' smile. He tried to push the door open farther, but Eddie kept his hand firmly placed on the inside, with his foot in the door for good measure.

“If you wanted that you wouldn’t have spent the past hour on my tail.” He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not as subtle as you think you are.”

He nodded his head towards the people he knows are just around the corner. “And you can tell your little friends that too.”


	2. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The confrontation with Tony and his 'little friends' begin. It seems normal, but Eddie gets the feeling they know more then they're letting on.

All Eddie could do to keep calm during the time Natasha, Steve, and Tony sat themselves down on his ratty old couch was grab a glass and fill it with freezing cold water. He had offered to get them a drink as well, but none of them accepted. 

Not for a lack of want, however. Steve had gone to say yes, but Tony stopped him. If Eddie had to guess why, he was worried about a fight breaking out. Hero or not, a glass cup to the head still hurt like hell.

Once the cup was filled, he made his way slowly to the couch where Stark made himself at home in the middle of his couch with Steve on Eddie’s right and Natasha on his left. Eddie sat in the chair on the opposite of a small table in between all of them.

“Let’s start nice and simple, Mr. Brock. How did the incident start?” Steve said, taking charge.

“I’ve already given my statement to the police, so I’ll give you the basic rundown.” Eddie set his glass of water down on the table in front of him. “I had this lady, a good friend of mine, go missing. I heard that Carlton Drake was taking on homeless people for something or another.” He sighed, remembering her fondly. “Figured she must have gotten desperate and gone for his offer.”

“Then another scientist that was working for him came to me and told me about his experiments, hoping I could help. Looking for the next big scoop, and to help my friend, I went in. There was some messed up shit going on in there, I can tell you that much.” 

He sighed, reaching for his glass and taking a slow sip of water to let the information sink in. “One chaotic mess later and suddenly I’ve got an alien inside of me.”

Tony had the common sense to look grossed out for a second, but schooled it into neutrality before Eddie continued. “We beat up some bad guys, get chased around town, and next thing I know he’s saving me from an explosion. Figured he died when he saved me. I wind up in the hospital and get out a few days later.”

Eddie nodded slowly, “And that’s about it.”

Tony nodded himself and clasped his hands together loosely. “Well, you seem to be doing quite alright, going by your recent expenditures. Lots of chocolate for some reason...”

Natasha, who’d been mostly silent, chimed in, “Care to explain why you need roughly 95 lbs of chocolate every month?”

Eddie raised his eyebrow towards Stark. “You always go so far into the private life of civilians?”

“If I find them interesting, Mr. Brock.” He tilted his head slightly sideways. “You haven’t seen a doctor since the incident, which was several months ago, and you’ve started eating about three times as much food ever since. I find that interesting enough.”

**He knows**

“We really should have you see a doctor.” Tony said, smiling innocently. “We could even have Dr. Banner take a look at you back in his lab.” 

**No scientists.**

He shook his head. “No, I’m not doing that. I’m perfectly fine.” he said, but they didn’t look nearly convinced enough for his liking. However, convinced or not, he couldn’t let this continue. “Look, if that’s all you needed, I have work to do.” He began to stand up, reaching for his glass.

“You’re not going anywhere until you get a check-up.” Tony pressed, motioning for him to sit back down. He got the distinct feeling that Tony knew more than he was letting on. Eddie went into this thinking that they knew about V, but the fact that they’re disguising it as being concerned for his well being was, in and of itself, concerning. They were after something, but he couldn’t figure out what. 

**Information, most likely**

Once Eddie sat back down, suddenly aware of the tension between the two of them, Tony continued slowly. “You haven’t seen a doctor since you were in the hospital with total organ failure. We should make sure everything is fine.” Tony paused, quickly glancing over at the people next to him. “A few blood tests should do it.”

“ **No!** ”

Eddie could see Tony and Steve tense, though he doubted anything would make the Black Widow scared. Nevertheless, the room grew quiet. He knew V had freaked for a second when they mentioned tests and his voice had leaked through. Natasha, though not scared, suddenly wouldn’t take her eyes off of him, Steve was still frozen in fear (or confusion), and Tony had shifted into being proud, if Eddie had to pick an emotion. Smug bastard. He did that on purpose. Eddie coughed awkwardly. “I mean. No, we don’t need it.”

Steve raised his eyebrows and stole a glance at Tony. “We?”

“I don’t need scientists poking around my perfectly healthy body.” He clarified. No one made a move.

He leaned forward, ready to bite the bullet. “Look, we all know why you’re here. And if you’d stop beating around the bush, this would have been over long ago.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “To be blunt, I still have Venom and you know about us. You’re either here to take us in through force, which is why you evacuated the building in case we fought back.” 

He leaned down and let a bit of V slip through. “ **And we will fight back if you try and hurt us.** ” He sat back up, taking in their surprised faces (mostly Steve to be honest). “Or you thought we’d slip up and reveal a weakness during our backstory so you can come back later with more weapons. So the question is: why are you really here?”

He braced for a number of responses, mostly negative. He tensed further when none of them moved, not even to look at each other, which was a bit unsettling.

**If they fight, we fight.**

_I won’t let them hurt us._

“You owe me 50 bucks, Steve.” Natasha said, smirking. Steve sighed, shoulders hunched. “Not again…” He said, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket. Eddie felt immediately confused.

Tony just laughed heartily. “That’s what you get for taking the bet!”

He kept laughing, but calmed down enough to ask, “Capsicle here thought you were…” He leaned to his right, “What did he say, Nat?”

“A weird case of schizophrenia, bad circumstances, and a good immune system.” She recounted while placing her newly found cash in her own wallet.

Stark let his laugh trail off, resting his elbows on his knees. “Look inky, we’re not here to pick a fight. But we do need to take you in.” Eddie quickly stood up, but Tony shook his head and motioned for him to sit down again. “It would only be to document what you can do for legalities sake. You come in, show us what you can do, and you go home. No tests.”

Tony paused. “Bruce might want a checkup though. Nothing more invasive than a regular doctor, I can assure you. A little show and tell, if you will.” 

Eddie hesitated, unsure of what to do.

_Are you ok with that, love?_

Eddie could feel the hesitation radiating off of V.

**We go where Eddie goes**

_Yes or no, darling. I need to be sure._

**...Yes**

“We’ll go on one condition.” Eddie said, holding his index finger up. “Take it or leave it.”

Tony crossed his arms suspiciously. “Depends on what your condition is.” He nodded towards his companions. “And whether or not my ‘little friends’ agree”. 

“If we get uncomfortable with your questions, we’re done. If we get uncomfortable with your ‘examination’, we leave.” Simple as that was, Stark was not an accommodating person, let alone to alien/human duo’s, and Eddie knew it.

The undertone of ‘if you don’t say yes, we’re gonna duke it out’ was left unsaid, but not unheard, if the displeased look on Stark’s face was any indication. 

Tony shared a glance with Natasha and Steve, who both nodded slightly. He pressed his fingers to his temples and sighed. 

“Whatever you say, space boy.” Tony took a deep breath, stood up, and motioned for Eddie to follow him out the front door, with Natasha and Steve following shortly behind. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments and welcome and appreciated! Thank you so much to the people who commented on the last chapter, it really makes me happy!


	3. Examination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game of twenty questions with Dr. Banner gets uncomfortable quick. It's a good thing Tony's favorite intern is here to cheer Eddie up.

‘A little show and tell’ was indeed what the ‘good doctor’ wanted. If a ‘little’ meant asking their entire life story and every single question he could think of. At least he wasn’t doing anything to them.

**Yet**

True. All he’d done so far while in his lab was ask a few questions and take their vitals, but Eddie got the feeling that if Stark, who was currently staying by the door, gave the ok, the doctor would have done so much more. He could feel the discomfort leak off of V the whole time the doctor played 20 questions. Since they shared feelings, it meant they were in a closed circuit of anxiety.

And the laboratory that was littered with all kinds of fancy technology and equipment he couldn’t even begin to understand, let alone want to get near, wasn’t helping his anxiety. Or it could be the examination table that was a bit too big for him, which he was currently sitting on. It made him feel like a little kid coming into the adult waiting room at a clinic for the first time. In other words: _tiny and insignificant._

“About how many calories per day do you think you eat?” Bruce asked, holding a clipboard to his chest, with a pen in the other hand. “I want to get an idea of how fast your metabolism works”

Eddie shrugged, “I don’t know what to tell you. Not really keeping track.” He thought for a few seconds but settled on, “A lot, though. A lot of food.”

“I see,” Dr. Banner said, shifting in his seat and pushing it in towards his desk more. “It’s safe to assume around 4000 calories a day, then?” he said.

“Yeah that sounds about right.” Eddie paused to think on it for a second. “Maybe more with the chocolate, though.” He added.

Dr. Banner nodded. “Yes, Stark said something about large amounts of chocolate in the debrief. Please hold on for just a moment.” Eddie watched as the doctor rolled his seat backwards and pulled out a laptop from one of the desk drawers.

**Debrief?**

_It means they did their research on us. We need to be more careful._

Eddie watched as Dr. Banner typed out a quick note in his computer, before closing it. “Certain information I prefer to keep electronically. Hope you don’t mind.” He pushed the laptop aside, picking up the clipboard again. “You were saying?”

Eddie shrugged in response, “We need to eat a lot of chocolate. Keeps down the urge to turn to our...other method of eating.” They needed to mention this at some point, even if the doctor already knew, but it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Other eating methods?” Bruce’s eyes went wide, suddenly looking like he was going to be sick. “Right...the” He coughed quietly, setting his pen down on the table, “Eating people..thing.”

Eddie nodded stiffly. “Yeah. That.”

“Is that something you _need_ to do?” He said slowly.

**Yes. We get Hungry.**

“Yeah, we do. It’s not the same as regular hunger, but we get hungry if we don’t.”

Eddie could see the doctor’s eyes light up. “So it’s a different feeling, then? When you get the hunger that is. Could you describe it to me?” He reached for the pen again, pressing it to the board.

Eddie sighed. “It starts off like regular hunger but then if I don’t feed, it starts feeling like my organs are slowly being dissolved. Mostly because they are.”

Dr. Banner looked horrified, but somewhat intrigued, given that he was beginning to take notes again. Didn’t mean that Eddie didn’t see him glance over at Tony, who was guarding the door (probably in case they ran), before he did though.

“If I don’t feed then V will start munching on my organs.” Eddie said. He watched the doctor take several rushed notes, even underlining one.

**We should go. We don’t like it here.**

Eddie knew that was a bad idea, to leave without saying anything, but he was seriously considering it. There was a window just behind Dr. Banner. It wasn’t that far of a drop. V would always catch them.

**Always**

One look at the doctor, though, stopped that train of thought. His eyes were wide and he looked like he was about to tell Tony to detain them and ‘get that parasite out of this poor man’.

He held out a hand to stop the doctor’s train of thought. “And before you ask, no he doesn’t _want_ to hurt me.”

“It’s like…” He ran his hand through his hair and felt the cold sweat building on his forehead. The more information about V, the more vulnerable they were. “It’s like breathing. You can hold your breath, but only for so long.”

“So why the chocolate?” Bruce flipped back to his previous notes. “You said that it quells the hunger for short periods of time.”

“To be honest, we really don’t know why it does. It just does.” He sat back up and gestured around the room. “And we aren’t exactly big fans of being experimented on and studied again.”

**No tests.**

He leaned forward and put his head in his hands, sighing heavily. “Look, can we take a break? We need to get some air.”

Bruce set his clipboard down on the table, along with the pen, and rose from his seat. “Yes, of course, that was part of our agreement.” 

He stood up from his desk, pushing his chair in behind him. “I can’t have you running around unsupervised, however. I don’t think an unknown person should be left to wander around the tower, lest they be attacked by one of our more...paranoid friends” He smiled, stepping around his desk and towards them. “I’m sure you understand.”

Eddie never realized how tall Dr. Banner was, but now that he was standing over him he felt even more infinitesimal. They had a small staring contest, but Eddie gave in first. 

**Pussy**

He shrugged his shoulders and shifted his head to the right. “Yeah yeah just give us a babysitter so we can leave.” He hopped down from the exam table he was on, thankful that they could leave without much hassle.

“It can be Mr. Tinman over here if you’re really worried about us.” He said, making his way to the door where Stark was standing. He stopped a few feet in front of him, sending him a questioning glance when he didn’t move out of the way even a little.

Bruce nodded “I don’t have a problem with that if he doesn’t.” He stepped back towards his desk, grabbed his laptop, and placed it on the work table in the far right side of the room, near his desk. “I just have to add more notes to your profile. We can come back to this when you’re ready.”

Stark sighed, throwing daggers at the doctor, but walked through the open door anyway. “A little tour is fine as long as he doesn’t touch anything.” He looked back at Eddie, who hadn’t moved. “You coming or what?”

Eddie shrugged his shoulders. “ _Right behind you Captain Xenophobe_ ” he muttered. He wished Stark would be a little less obvious about his disdain for them being here, considering they weren't happy to be here either. Or at the very least treat them with more respect than yesterday's leftovers.

**We could eat him**

Eddie smiled and said “We’re not eating Stark.” He could see the flinch from a mile away, and took that as a sign that it had given Tony a bit of a scare. “Not sure if he’d be tasty anyway, given how annoying he is.” he added.

Eddie was surprised at Tony’s restraint, considering he said nothing after that, as well as throughout the rest of the tour. He walked through the halls without so much as one glance back at them. To be honest it seemed like he was intentionally ignoring them, almost like he was walking around and telling _himself_ where everything was instead of someone else.

“And this is the kitchen.” He said, loosely gesturing to the room full of cabinets, shelves, and one massive fridge over on the right side of the room. He turned back and looked at them for the first time. “Any questions?” he said.

**Hungry, Eddie**

“Actually yeah. Can we eat? We’re hungry.”

“There should be some chocolate in that cabinet over there.” He said, pointing to the far right counter near the fridge. Eddie practically dove for it, opening the doors as fast as possible. He grabbed a few bars, tossed them in his mouth, and spit the wrappers back out on the counter all in the span of 10 seconds.

They looked back and saw Tony standing perfectly still, looking not at them, but at something behind them. They then turned around and saw some kid in casual clothes with one hand placed in the doorway, but with his head turned behind him, shouting down the hallway at someone. They couldn’t make out what he was saying but the last part sounded like “It’ll only take a minute!”

Stark suddenly leaned in and hurriedly whispered to Eddie “ _Stay away from him_ ”.

He, in turn, said “What are you? His dad?” He took another look at the boy. “Isn’t he a little young to be here anyway?”

Said kid finally rushed into the kitchen, only to stop midway through. “Oh! Hiya Mr. Stark! What are you doing here?”

Tony shot one last nasty look at Eddie and said, “Just giving them a tour of the building.” He smiled warmly at the kid. “Weren’t you just working on something anyway? With Shuri?”

“We’re taking a break right now, Mr. Stark” The kid said “It’s my turn to get some snacks for us!”

“That’s nice, Peter. Say hi to-”

“Eddie Brock! I know you!” He said, rushing up to shake Eddie’s hand suddenly. “I did a research project on you last year! I used to watch your show all the time, too! I’m a huge fan!”

He turned to look behind Eddie. “You didn’t tell me you knew someone as famous as Eddie Brock, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah he’s famous all right. Just not for the right reasons, kid.” Eddie could hear Tony’s frown and grit teeth without even looking. “You don’t want to get mixed up with him, trust me.”

“Are you kidding me? I’ve been waiting for a chance to meet someone like him!” He turned his attention back to Eddie. “Mr. Brock, what kind of cameras do you recommend? I’ve been using Canon for as long as I can remember but it never turns out quite right.”

Before he could answer he heard a resounding “Tony!” from the hallway, and Steve Rogers himself walked in the room. “There you are. I need your help right away.”

He saw the conflict in Stark’s eyes when he said “But...I can’t just leave him alone.”

Steve took a glance at Eddie and Peter. “I’m sure it’ll be fine. We’re in a building full of superheros, how much trouble could he cause?”

Steve walked further into the room, grabbed Stark by the arm, and pulled him out before he could protest further. “Take care of him, will you Peter?” he shouted over his shoulder once he left the room.

Eddie and the kid, Peter, stood in silence for a moment, trying to process what just happened.

“To answer your question, I used a Nikon B600 when I was starting out and it worked pretty good,” He said slowly, gesturing for them both to sit down at the large table in the middle of the room. “I upgraded to a Nikon D5600 later on, but that was _way_ more expensive.”

Peter took the seat opposite to Eddie, and nodded a few times “Yeah I wanted to get one of those but they’re super expensive.” 

“Why don’t you just ask Tony? He has plenty of money to throw at an intern like you.” 

Peter gasped quietly. “I couldn’t ask for that much money!” he said, shaking his head. “No, I have to buy it myself, for sure. I don’t want to trouble him.” 

**Baby**

_Absolute baby, indeed._

Eddie took a glance back at the doorway, noticing for the first time that Steve hadn’t dragged him far, just to the other side of the hallway, where Eddie couldn’t hear them, and they probably couldn’t hear him. They were talking something out, though Eddie could tell Tony wasn’t really listening. 

“Alright, so what are you really here for Mr. Brock?” He looked back at the kid. “You can’t just be here for a tour.” Peter said. 

“I could ask you the same thing, kiddo. You’ve been looking at that fridge an awful lot for just ‘getting snacks’.” He countered. Gesturing over at the fridge he said “Something in there is apparently very interesting to you. You haven’t stopped fidgeting since you got in here, too.” He pointed to Peter’s right leg, which was gently shaking the whole table. 

Peter looked down at his leg and grabbed onto it to stop it, which only worked for a few seconds. He gave them the meanest glare he could manage, which wasn’t all that intimidating coming from a 16 year old. “Alright. You caught me. Wanna know my secret?” Eddie nodded, intrigued. 

Peter leaned in and stage-whispered, “ _I’ve had nothing but Redbull for two days. I came here to get some more._ ” 

Peter grinned widely, “But don’t tell Irondad over there. He’ll make me eat a ‘real meal’ and tuck me in bed if you do.” 

Eddie chuckled. “ _Irondad?_ Coin the term kiddo, before I steal it.” He stole a glance at Stark, currently talking with Steve, but ignoring him in favor or sending daggers their way. 

“Never thought such a stuck-up billionaire would be like a dad to a cool kid like you.” He looked back at Peter, currently trying not to smile too hard from the praise, and mirrored his smile. 

**We like him, Eddie**

Eddie couldn’t help but smile just a bit wider. _Yeah we do._

“We should probably get back to what we’re supposed to be doing.” He nodded his head towards Stark, still staring at them. Seems like Steve walked off long ago, knowing he wouldn’t get through to Tony. “Besides, sure ‘Irondad’ over there isn’t too happy about us talking to you.” 

It seemed like the only reason Tony hadn’t rushed in here and taken Peter away was because it would have upset the kid. Good on him for caring about saving face for a 16 year old. 

“Why wouldn’t he be? You’re so nice!” He said, still smiling brightly. 

**Can we adopt him?**

_Don’t think so, love_

**Then we must protect him.**

_Definitely_

“We appreciate the compliment, Peter, but I don’t think you want to get mixed up with us.” 

“‘We?’ ‘Us’?” 

“You’ll find out soon enough, kiddo. Keep an eye out for a certain handsome someone going in the training room soon.” 

Peter’s eyes lit up. “You’re a hero?! That’s amazing! What can you do?” He paused, his hand going over his mouth. “Was that rude? Sorry if that was rude and you don’t want to talk about it... I don’t know why I said that…” Peter frowned, letting his hand drop to his lap. 

“Hey it’s ok, we’re used to it by now. Just keep an eye on the training room and you might see us in action.” He glanced at the clock hanging above the doorway. “For now, though, we’ve kept Dr. Banner waiting long enough.” 

Eddie stood up and pushed in his chair. Peter did the same, rushing over to the fridge. “It was nice meeting you, Mr. Brock. You seem pretty cool, even if Mr. Stark doesn’t think so!” He pulled out two boxes of Redbull from the side door of the fridge, before closing the main door with his foot. 

Eddie nodded. “Likewise.” he said as Peter ran out of the room to go hang out with ‘Shuri’, Eddie assumed. 

_Hope we see him again_

**We must protect him, Eddie**

Eddie agreed. An innocent, powerless, not to mention incredible young, intern in a tower full of heroes needed to be protected at all costs. 

For now, though, it was back to playing 20 questions with the doctor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad to hear people are enjoying this! I plan on finishing it by the end of the month in case anyone was wondering :)


	4. Demonstration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demonstration of Venom's powers turns sour quicker than Eddie expected

Part of the agreement they made yesterday wasn’t just that Eddie be allowed to leave if he got uncomfortable, it was that they had to, as Tony put it, “come in, show us what you can do, and go home”. They weren’t really comfortable letting a group of heroes who saw Eddie as a villain know what their weaknesses were, but a deal was a deal. They just had to be careful what they showed off and what they let slide as ‘unimportant’ information.

They had settled on telling them about being faster and stronger. Things they already knew. If pressed, they’d say something they could do that either wasn’t important enough to look into or something they couldn’t look into. Like how they communicated while together. Keeping everything simple was the main plan, though.

That was what led them to be walking into the training room they saw earlier on their tour. It was huge, spanning about four times the size of Dr. Banner’s lab, and five times the size of the kitchen.

The inside was very minimalistic: a large sparring mat in the center, punching bags hanging off of the ceiling on the left side, and a large, in-wall closet off to the right below an observation deck, where he assumed spare equipment was stored.

**Camera above**

Eddie noticed a small camera off in the right-hand corner, next to said observation deck. He frowned at the implication that they could document exactly how they work at any moment. It made an involuntary shiver run down his spine.

But he also saw Peter up in the observation deck, which made him smile just a bit. Kid was keeping an eye out for them.

When he was done giving a once over to the room he noticed Steve and Natasha in their battle gear. Tony was in casual wear, but still ready to fight, going by the look he was giving Eddie.

Eddie had stopped a few feet in front of the three of them, and went to give a small wave when they didn’t say anything, but V stopped him. 

**Don’t make us look bad.**

He settled on saying a quick “Hi.” instead.

“Guess we’re getting right into it, then.” Tony said, shrugging. “So, what can you do?”

They ran through the practice dialogue they set for themselves earlier and said “Basically, we can run faster and be stronger when we’re Venom. Not much else to say, really.”

He paused to think of anything else that wasn’t incriminating. “We can do a little bit of body morphing if you can call having sentient sludge pull you around ‘body morphing’”.

“What?” Steve asked, confused.

“Yeah, like this.” V took the hint and covered Eddie’s arm in what most thought looked like thick ink. At least that’s what he assumed people thought. Those people don’t stick around long enough to find out what it really is, if they walk away in the first place.

“Are you...aware during the time when you’re ‘Venom’? Or are you unconscious?” Steve said, shifting his head slightly to look all around the length of Eddie’s arm.

Eddie shook his head. “No, I’m aware. Actually, my senses are heightened if anything. I can...close my eyes in a sense, and let him take over in case things get ugly, or I get uncomfortable, but it’s a team effort. Symbiotic if you want to get technical.” He said, letting V seep slowly back into his arm meanwhile.

“What does he get out of it?” Tony interrupted. “As a matter of fact, what do _you_ get out of it?”

_I get the love of my life._ He felt the adoration pour out of V, which made him smile in return. 

**Love you Eddie**

Eddie paused to think about it. “He gets to survive in our atmosphere and I get to be more powerful, to sum it up.” Eddie said. “Like we said: symbiotic”.

“So it’s like having a parasite with benefits?” Tony said, sneering at them.

He could feel the anger bubbling, and tried to calm down, but couldn’t in time once V manifested a head over Eddie’s right shoulder to voice his complaint. “ **Not a parasite.** ”

The only person to look even kind of surprised was Steve, who hadn’t seen much footage, going by previous interactions. Tony did say that he thought it was just a variety of unfortunate circumstances that connected the ‘San Francisco Demon’ to (former) famous reporter Eddie Brock.

“Hey now, they didn’t know that. Not their fault they don’t understand us.” He said, stroking the side of V’s head lovingly. " _Calm down, love_.” he half-whispered.

He saw Tony look at Natasha and mouth ‘ _Love?’_ , who just shrugged in response, but Eddie ignored him in favor of keeping his other calm. He tried his best to calm himself down, knowing it would have a ripple effect, and managed enough to get V to pull back and rest on his shoulder.

“To answer the upcoming question: yes, we’re in love. If it were legal we’d have been married long ago.” He frowned at them. “If you have a problem with that then it’s not _our_ problem.”

“ **We love Eddie**.” V said.

Eddie nodded in agreement. “And now that you know what we can do, we’d like it if we can leave.”

Tony shrugged loosely, unfazed. “We need to _see_ what you can do, not hear. So get to it, loverboy.”

**We could eat them. Pile their heads up in the corner.**

“No!” Eddie said loudly, refusing to take his eyes off of Tony.

“Like it or not, that’s what we agreed on.” Tony said, leaning back and crossing his arms. He nodded towards Steve and Natasha. “It’s what we all agreed on.”

“Not _you_.” He looked back at V’s manifested head on his shoulder. “We’re not eating the Avengers, V” He said. Eddie was getting quite tired of this. Not V, that is. With the Avengers and their stuck up attitude. Mostly Tony, if he was being honest. Arrogant prick.

He sighed, pressed his fingers to his temple, and squeezed. “So if we show you what we can do, we can leave?”

Steve nodded and said “Yes.”

He removed his hand from his face and whispered “ _Mask_ ”. V, who was resting on his shoulder, turned and covered Eddie’s head, massive teeth coming from his gaping maw, but shifting so that the teeth were in front. The rest of his body was covered, with a bit extra so he was taller and bigger. Tony even had to take a step back from where he was standing to make room for Venom.

“ **Copy** ” he said in their gravelly, intimidating ‘Venom’ voice. They always liked being dramatic. Scaring the less-than-innocent people was their idea of fun.

“You said something about body morphing earlier.” Tony said. Eddie ignored the slight shiver he saw wracking Tony’s body, but couldn’t help but inwardly chuckle a bit. “Is this the extent of it?”

“ **No**.” Venom said. “ **We can extend ourselves farther and faster.** ”

“How fast, exactly?” Steve asked, raising his eyebrow.

Venom extended his left hand and shot out a tendril from the tip, quickly piercing through one of the punching bags off on the far left. “ **Fast. Very fast**.” He responded, recoiling the tendril just as quickly.

“How exactly do you get around looking like that without being noticed?” Natasha asked. “Not very subtle.”

“ **We run on rooftops**.” he said, glancing upwards at the ceiling. “ **Can’t run right now, but we’re very fast**.”

“Anything else?” Tony asked, now that his shaking had subsided.

“ **We’re strong**.” Venom said, clenching his fist in front of him. “ **But that’s about it**.”

Steve nodded and said “So you’re enhanced like me?” It wasn’t the same, Eddie knew, but he grunted in agreement nonetheless. Some things, mostly pertaining to anatomy, they prefer not to mention. He let V seep back into his body slowly. 

“Anything else? Limitations?” Tony asked. It was a way of asking for weaknesses and Eddie wouldn’t bite. 

“None that we’re willing to share.” Eddie narrowed his eyes.

“It was part of the deal.” 

“Like hell it was! The deal was that we show you what we can do and leave. And we’re leaving.” He started to walk away, but Tony quickly grabbed his arm, forcefully pulling him back.

**Kill him**

Eddie shrugged off his grip, but Tony stepped forward, closing the gap between them. “You’re not leaving until we get the information we want.”

“Seriously? What kind of self-righteous hero says something like that?” He shook his head and laughed. “Who are you? _Batman?_ ”

“If you-”

“No, you need to listen for once in your life.” He pointed his finger angrily at Tony. “If you weren’t so pompous and self-serving this would have been over long ago.”

“We didn’t even need to be in here if you just wanted to know about our powers. It’s not all that complicated.” He was beginning to get worked up, and he could tell, but was also incredibly frustrated with the Avengers and their need to feel superior to everyone. “Hell, we could've done this back at my apartment and we all could have gone home happy.”

**Calm down, Eddie**

He exhaled heavily to calm himself down, but finally noticed the other two behind Tony gearing up for a fight. He was so tunnel-visioned on Tony that he didn’t even see them. _Careless_. They probably came into this thinking this would happen, which is why they’ve been battle-ready since Eddie walked in.

He steeled his voice. “We came in here willingly, but if you won’t listen then we’ll leave on our own terms.” He let V pour over his body, starting with his legs and moving upwards. It was a much faster transformation this time around. “If that includes taking all of you out, then **so be it**.”

He saw Natasha on the right side, combat knife at the ready, and Steve on the left, shield propped up in front of him. Tony remained passive, but Eddie assumed it was because he didn’t have his suit on him.

Eddie clenched his fist, about to shoot a tendril out to disarm both the knife and the shield, when he heard movement from the entrance of the room. He looked over and saw a kid. Specifically, he saw Peter. The intern from the kitchen who took a liking to him.

He was gasping for air, but managed to say “ _Please don’t fight_.” as he caught his breath. Eddie glanced up at the observation deck that he saw him at in the beginning. Probably saw what was going on and decided to step in. _Reckless, but effective._

“Stay out of this, kid.” Tony said, not taking his eyes off of Venom. “You don’t want to get mixed up in this.”

Peter stepped in between Tony and Eddie. “No, Mr. Stark.” he said, his voice slightly shaking. “I don’t know why you all hate Venom so much, but I don’t want to see him or you guys hurt.”

“You don’t know what they’ve _done_. What they _can_ do.” He tried to gently shove Peter to the side. “They’re dangerous. And if they’re looking for a fight, then we’ll fight.”

**He’s going to get hurt**

Eddie got into a battle stance, ready to protect him, but Peter didn’t let himself be pushed. Instead he grabbed Tony’s hand and kept it in place. “I know who they are, and I know what they’ve done. I’m not as clueless as you think I am.” He let Tony’s hand fall back down as he caught his eye. “I don’t want to see anyone get hurt. So...I think it’s best if Eddie leaves for a bit. To come with me.”

“Kid, no, I’m not about to let that happen.” Tony said, hands in front of him in a placating gesture, wary of Peter’s sudden rebellion. “They’re dangerous, and I don’t think-”

Peter quickly turned his back on Tony, and faced Eddie. He grabbed his hand and began to run towards the entrance, pulling Eddie behind him. “Sorry, Mr. Stark!” he yelled over his shoulder.

Eddie looked back, expecting to be followed, but instead saw Tony with his arms out, holding back Steve and Natasha from following. Confusing as that was, Peter led him around the corner and out of their sight before he could begin to question why.

Sensing that he wasn’t in danger while he and Peter were running through the halls, he let V slip mostly back into his body. V made himself comfortable as a small head and neck coiled loosely around his neck, and resting on his shoulders.

Eddie had to give credit where credit was due, the kid was faster than he expected. Stronger too, if he could forcefully pull a fully formed Venom along without a struggle. Eddie was a little more than impressed with how he handled it, as well. Distract Tony, confuse him, then leave while he was still processing what Peter had said. De-escalating a violent scene was pretty impressive given how young he was. Most adults couldn’t do that.

**Good kid. Courageous.**

Eddie had to agree. Once they had stopped in a part of the building Eddie didn’t recognize, he rested against the wall and caught his breath. He looked over and saw the kid leaning against the wall, but not breathing heavy like Eddie was, just resting. The athletic kind, then.

“Alright so I may have not thought this next part through.” Peter said, once Eddie smelled the sterile scent of a lab. It made his heart race uncomfortably fast.

“I know you probably don’t want to be in a lab, but when I saw you down there...not having a good time I had to come help. And I don’t really have anywhere else to go right now. So…” he trailed off, gesturing at Eddie, then at the door, then back at Eddie.

_What do you think?_

**Yes. We go where Eddie goes.**

Eddie ran his hand through his now sweaty hair. “Just let us in, kid. We can handle it.”

Peter smiled, turning to punch a code in the wall, which made the door disappear into the right side of the wall. “Come on in, then!”

Peter paused halfway in the doorway to grab the box of unopened Redbull cans that was sitting against the wall. “Honey, I’m home!” he called out playfully, walking deeper into the lab, and around the corner. “And I brought a friend!”

Eddie heard “It better not be another broken white boy!” as he came around the same corner Peter had. Once he did he saw a regal looking young woman with intricate braids that held her hair up standing in front of a workstation covered in various miscellaneous electronics. She had been focusing on some invention Eddie couldn’t quite see, but had apparently set it down once she heard them come in.

Peter laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “Ok so don’t get mad, but…”

She finally turned to look at Peter, but noticed Eddie behind him first, still sweaty, with V on his shoulder.

“I was kidding but...you might be the _most_ broken white boy I’ve ever seen.” She sighed dramatically. “Oh Peter what have you done this time?”


	5. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eddie complains about his time at the tower. Peter defends Tony, and Eddie realizes that maybe he isn't such a bad guy.

Ignoring the spacious and most likely very comfortable couch, Eddie, Peter, and Shuri were sitting on the floor. Peter was wrapped up in a thick, plush red blanket, with several cans of Redbull in front of him, one already opened. Shuri was propped up against her workstation, with a pillow on her back and a small computer opened in her lap. And Eddie… he was just sitting on the cold floor, with V on his shoulder. Peter offered Redbull like one would tea or water to a house guest, but Eddie refused when he saw how much he was shaking from the caffeine. 

Peter was now on his second can, which he was currently chugging extremely quickly. “Ever heard of Spiderman, Mr. Brock?” he said, once done. He set the empty can aside, and reached for another, setting in in his lap.

Eddie nodded. “Of course. Who hasn’t? he said. He tapped his chin in thought. “Think I even did a news report on him back when I was first starting out.” Eddie remembered his first time giving a report. It was sloppy, looking back on it. A lot of pandering, giving the readers what they wanted. It was well received, but that wasn’t what he wanted. He was there to give the people what they needed to hear, not what they wanted. 

Spiderman was one of the few heroes he couldn’t find much fault with. He kept people safe, didn’t cause much property damage, and overall had good publicity. Not much to report on, if anything at all.

Peter giggled wildly, which shook his whole body. “That’s me!” He said, giving the tiniest of jazz hands for emphasis. “I’m Spiderman! I’m a hero just like you!”

Eddie’s eyes went wide in disbelief. This skinny teenager was the famous Spiderman? Though if it was true then really it should be ‘Spiderboy’, given how young he was. “Seriously?” he choked out.

Peter nodded once. “And I can prove it too!” He tossed the blanket from his back and unfolded his legs to stand, leaving the can where he was sitting. Eddie craned his neck sideways to watch as he walked over to the wall just behind him. “Watch this!” he said, placing a foot on the wall, then the next, and the next, and soon he was walking up the walls and up onto the ceiling. Eddie turned his gaze to directly above him and saw Peter give a small wave, then crouch down to rest in his infamous ‘Spiderman’ pose. “What do you think? Pretty cool, right?”

Shuri mumbled “ _Show off_ ”, but gave a dramatic clap anyway. “Yes yes you’re very fancy. Now could you get off the ceiling before you hurt yourself? Or Eddie.”

“Yes, mother.” Peter stuck one hand to the ceiling, unstuck his feet, swung them down, then finally unstuck his hand and dropped onto the floor all in one swift motion. Walking back towards them, he picked up his blanket and draped it around himself like a cape. He huffed out a breath. “You’re no fun, Shuri.” he said as he plopped back down in his seat.

“Someone has to be the responsible one around here. You and your teenage ways just won’t do” she said. She opened her laptop, typing in a few things. “Now if you don’t mind, I have to make sure we won’t kill Eddie here on accident.”

“How’re you gonna do that?” Peter asked.

“I’m gonna steal some of Bruce’s notes. He has a habit of making detailed observations on his subjects, but doesn’t think about how everyday life affects said observations.”

Eddie felt confused. “Say that again?” he said.

She scrunched up her face, in deep thought. She suddenly whipped her head up and snapped her fingers. “Peter has a fast metabolism, right?” 

Eddie nodded. He remembered the doctor rambling on about several people in the tower having fast metabolisms. At the time, he didn’t think Peter, the kid he assumed was just an intern, was one of those people.

“Bruce noted this in his files, but didn’t think about mentioning keeping around a lot of food for him to Stark. It was him who noticed Peter’s distress and stocked up.”

“That’s...nice of him” He didn’t think Tony was the ‘silent caretaker’ kind. If anything, he reminded Eddie of being a hunter, stalking his prey. The fact that he knew Eddie’s eating habits was more than a little creepy. Talk about an invasion of privacy. Still, Eddie supposed he didn’t outright attack them. That deserved at least a little credit.

**Still don’t like him**

The pop of another can opening startled Eddie out of his thoughts. “Enough about that, I wanna know what happened in the training room, Mr. Brock!” Peter took a swig. “I mean I saw most of it, but I didn’t see the rest once I ran down to help.”

Eddie sighed, not wanting to tell the story again. But the kid did save them, so he supposed he deserved to know. “Long story short?” Peter nodded along. “They started asking uncomfortable questions and we wanted to stop. They said no, so we decided we were gonna leave whether they liked it or not. We were just about to fight when you rushed in.”

Peter gripped the can in his hand, swishing it around a few times. “Maybe they were edging you on? They’ve done that a couple times before to the others. Ms. Natasha anyway. It’s their way of riling you up so you’ll really show off.” He pointed to himself. “When we started training hand-to-hand, I was holding back cause I didn’t want to hurt her. She did the same thing with me and got me to show her what I could really do.”

Now that Eddie thought about it, it was way more likely than them just being untrusting jerks. Riling up someone to see what they can do is much more effective than asking. People hold back and lie when they think it can be used against them. Getting them angry makes them go all out to defend themselves. And now that he was looking back, he remembered that they didn’t make the first move, but were actually waiting for _him_ to.

“Still...I doubt Tony _wasn’t_ looking for a fight with the way he was talking.” That cold stare he gave him when Eddie refused to talk about weaknesses was proof enough. 

“Mr. Stark is actually an overprotective den mother once you get to know him.” Peter brought the can up to his lips and took a long sip. “You just have to get on his good side”. 

Eddie pictured the moment he looked back and saw Tony preventing Natasha and Steve from following them. It had confused him, but didn’t seem important at the time. 

“You don’t have to worry about going hungry!” 

He remembered that Tony had stocked up the kitchen with chocolate for when Eddie had arrived. He remembered that Tony was the only one that had showed up to the training room without weapons. 

“And he’s always looking out for me!” 

He remembered that Tony had only gotten aggressive when he went near Peter for the first time. 

“He’s a really good guy, Mr. Brock! You just have to give him a chance!” 

Overprotective den mother of _Peter_ , Eddie realized. 

“I...guess he isn’t as bad as I thought.” he said slowly. “I don’t know about ‘overprotective’ as much as ‘overbearing’ but...you do have a point.” 

**_Still_ don’t like him**

“See! He’s not so bad once you get to know him! There was that one time when I really messed up a mission and even yelled at him. He barely even scolded me! He’s always making improvements to my suit so I don’t get hurt. He even put Karen in there so I can always talk to others!” 

Shuri looked up from her computer. “I still can’t believe you named your A.I ‘Karen’.” 

He sent her an angry glare, but ignored her and kept rambling. “He even lets Loki and Shuri hang out with me because I asked him to! I know Shuri isn’t a problem because she and Dr. Banner are ‘science buddies’ but Mr. Stark has a bad history with Loki!” 

“Alright alright, I get the idea. He’s not so bad.” he scrubbed a hand over his face. “Don’t judge him too harshly, I understand.” 

Peter paused to think. “Did Mr. Stark offer you a place to stay here? He usually does to new heroes.” he said. 

Eddie had to think back to the first time he met Tony in his apartment. It wasn’t too clear, but Tony had hinted at Eddie staying for a bit longer than just for a checkup. “Yeah, he did when he first asked me to come to the tower”. ‘Asked’ was a relative term, but Peter didn’t need to hear the details. 

“So...if you don’t have a problem with Mr. Stark, and he’s ok with you being here...then what’s stopping you from staying?” he asked quietly. His eyes were the epitome of confusion, like a dog who couldn’t understand why no one would adopt them. 

Eddie tried to think of a reason that wasn’t ‘bad experiences with others trying to rip them apart’ but had a bit of trouble. 

**We need to Feed.**

Right. That. Peter had said earlier that he knew who they were and what they’d done, but if that included them munching on people’s heads then Peter was more accepting than they thought. “We need to eat. And we need to eat something that makes others uncomfortable.” 

He sighed. “I don’t think your kind of hero, or you, needs to see that.” 

They locked eyes with each other and stayed in silence for a minute, processing the heavy subject. A pure-hearted sixteen year old who grew attached to a brain-eating guy hosting an alien was not a light topic. 

**We still like him, Eddie...**

No matter how much he liked Peter, though, it was for the best that they stayed away. For his sake. 

**...He’s kind**

Peter was the nicest teenager in the world, who did nothing but try to understand and accept them. And the only way they could repay him was to stay far away. Eddie stared down at his hands. _How worthless._

**Not worthless. Eddie is perfect.**

“If you two are done pouting, I think I have a solution.” 

Eddie looked back up at Shuri, who was shaking her head in mock disapproval and smiling. 

She picked up the computer sitting in her lap and turned the screen so Eddie could see it. He squinted at the walls and walls of text, but it was mostly medical jargon he didn’t understand. 

“There’s a few notes about a mystery chemical that you need to survive. While you two were sulking, I did some research.” She turned the laptop back towards her. He finally glanced over at Peter, who wore the face of someone who’d been kicked a thousand times and finally couldn’t get back up. 

Shuri interrupted before he could berate himself even further. “It’s most likely something called Phenethylamine, a brain chemical that’s also found primarily in chocolate. I think I have an idea of what to do.” 

Eddie felt even more confused. “What exactly are you getting at?” 

“If that’s what it is, it’s not above Bruce to whip up something for you.” She gestured to Eddie’s shoulder, where V rested. “You guys wouldn’t have to eat people anymore.” 

“I...V?” he asked. V perked up from Eddie’s shoulder. “Do we need to eat people? Would getting the chemical be enough?” 

V looked at Eddie, then at Peter and Shuri, then back at Eddie. “ **We like the thrill of the hunt. The taste of fear when we eat bad people**.” V looked back at Peter. “ **But we would stop for Eddie**.” 

Eddie paused to think. If they didn’t have to eat people, then it would be ok to stay around Peter. If Tony really wasn’t the villain they made him out to be, then things could eventually settle between them. And if they stayed, then they’d have less of a chance of being attacked again, being surrounded by other heroes. 

**We can stay?**

“We never liked the Avengers before because we always thought they were the ‘shoot first, and questions never’ kind” he began slowly. “But they’re not as bad as we thought.” Eddie gestured towards Peter and Shuri, who were awaiting his response eagerly. “And all _you’ve_ done is ask questions.” 

He shook his head and laughed gently “Maybe...staying here wouldn’t be so bad.” 

Peter broke out into a smile, growing wider and wider by the second. “Yes! That’s amazing!” Peter jumped over from his spot, latching onto them. He gave them the biggest and strongest hug Eddie had ever had. Eddie smiled and gently hugged him back. 

“Sure is, kiddo.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! Thank you so much to everyone who read, commented, and gave kudos! It really made my day!
> 
> As a side note this entire fic started from one prompt: "Eyes up. Stay sharp." I'm seriously amazed at how deep down this rabbit hole I went to make this fic happen. 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought!


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